Vikings’ Peterson avoids jail in plea agreement

A judge agreed to the plea deal during a hearing Tuesday in Conroe, 40 miles north of Houston.

Peterson was indicted in September for using a wooden switch to discipline his 4-year-old son earlier this year in suburban Houston. The All-Pro running back was charged with felony injury to a child and had faced up to two years in prison if convicted.

Under the agreement, Peterson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of reckless assault.

Peterson says he never intended to harm his son and was disciplining him in the same way he had been as a child growing up in East Texas.